Hey everybody! I'm fairly new here. I've been reading here for a long time and finally decided to post. I just wanted to say I LOVE this blog! It teaches me all kinds of stuff I never learned in school. All the stuff I wanted to learn but wasn't "commercially viable". So now I work in the video game industry. I know I know, I'm part of the problem...Maya, Photoshop, all that crap. Yes, I'm a sell out, and I'm getting old. But I hope that I can still learn something from you John. Your work always inspired me. Well, you and Bob Clampett.Loved the Flinstones BG lessons. And I agree...why can't cartoons go back to this stuff?! I'm hopeful that one day it will bounce back, however.

Holy frick!Sody is just a total feast for the eyes in all of her jiggly, springy, enthusiastic glory (I know that there is no actual jiggling going on in these drawings, I’m just fillin in the blanks). The poses are just a blast to look at. Your animators must literally chomp at the bit to get a hold of this stuff and run with it. I gotta say, you and the yours at Spumco are on fire of late. From the new r&s “life sucks” cartoon to the stuff you’ve been knocking out on this ad work you’ve been doing is just first rate.

I just stumbled on your blog a few weeks ago and I’m utterly, helplessly, hooked. Your series on BG art continues to be a revalation. Interesting, informative, educational and a little depressing, considering the current state of bland that seems to have taken over cartoon art. Anyhow, I really don’t know why you are making such an effort with the educational tack you’ve taken but I’m sure as hell glad you are. –I’m literally gobbling this stuff up, man.

I love seeing the way this evolves from the lined paper sketches to these. I'm excited to see the finished product. It looks great.

Balancing sexy and cartoony is a difficult thing to do, but you do a great job of it. It seems like a lot of the time when a "sexy" character is made, she may look allright but the animators are afraid to move her like a real cartoon, and cause the character to be lifeless and boring instead of cute and sexy like the girls in your cartoons.

I got Don Bluth's books on animation and Storyboarding and I simply love them as much as Prestons. I adore Don Bluth. I wondered if the great John K. has anything to say about the great Bluth?

On an issue that continues to bug me about some of the points you bring up Mr. Krisfalusi. The problem with the animation world is not do to a lack of talent or appreciation for the principals - it's due to the fact that there are no jobs (except maybe overseas). When the traditional animation jobs return to local shores, and hopeful students can learn from working along side the masters, like yourself - then perhaps we can see an improvement and a rewvival in the animation industry again. Bring the jobs back, and you'll save the animation world. I don't like it when you try to blame a lack of art talent because there are soooo many extreemely talented hopefuls (like myself) who are just waiting to apply our learned works to a show or a piece. if only we had a job to apply our talents too .... that is the real problem with this industry.

I know you dislike the cartoons of the 1980s like Transformers. But check out the main original art director Floro Dery's work. I idolize his stuff too - its fabulous, it's too bad Mr. Dery doesn't get the credit he deserves for his designs on that old Transformers cartoon show.

I'm loving this rough sketches! They are so alife. I also like Sody being the star of the show for once. It seems she didn't have a big role in the flash Goddamn George Liquor Series or in the Spumco Comic Books. She's not just another sexy girl, she is quite a sympathetic character, the young energy she seems to have. I can wait to see this animated!

Just quick: Yes, you learned from Katie, and you also put your own funny into the drawings. E.G.: the butt. Granted you had to sacrifice some sexy, but it is WORTH it. I get all primed to giggle just looking at her goofy buttocks, as with the mouth. So Mazeltov.

Hey John,I go to an "animation school" where all hopes of learning how to animate are lost. Even though I plan on getting out of there, I don't suppose you'd want to come in as a guest artist and give a lecture about animation and how important it is?

Pretty much everything that comes out of this college sucks.

The college is "Ex'Pression College for Digital Art".If you're interested, I'm pretty positive about making an arrangement to have you over as a guest. They do it every-so-often.